


Radioactive Green

by Titus621



Category: Marvel, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pro Heroes (My Hero Academia), F/M, Midoriya Izuku is the Hulk, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pro Hero Uraraka Ochako
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:22:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26514394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titus621/pseuds/Titus621
Summary: Izuku never got a quirk. Izuku never went to UA. Izuku was never saved.A decade later, he's one of the top scientists in the country, but an accident changes everything.A few weeks later, a new monster emerges, the likes of which Japan hasn't seen in ten years. They don't know his name, so they simply call him by the title they gave him.The Hulk.
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako, Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako
Comments: 32
Kudos: 333





	Radioactive Green

Ochako was never a fan of evening patrols. She preferred to feel the sun shining down on her as she jumped between buildings and soared over streets, and she liked to spend her evenings relaxing. When you patrolled during the day, you could unwind before bed, but with evening patrols, she basically had to collapse into her pillow the moment she got home. She always felt like she slept worse after late shifts.

However, the Hero Commission had ordered increased evening patrols because every time  _ he _ had been sighted, it had been in the evening, so she didn’t really have much of a choice. It seemed like he was the only thing anybody had wanted to talk about for the past two months.

The ‘Hulk’.

The great, green monster that had been terrorizing the outer wards of the Tokyo Metropolis for weeks had been the center of nearly every conversation on the evening news, and it was a strange day when there wasn’t something related to the Hulk trending on social media. 

Normally, villains popped up and were put down. There was rarely a villain who would evade capture for more than a day or two, and become a national fascination as they went on their crime spree, but those outliers were always taken down within a week. 

  
The Hulk had been at large for two months now, and they were honestly no closer to capturing him. The Hero Commission had been putting on airs about all the progress they were making, but those in the know were aware just how little there had been. Being in the top ten, Ochako had some special insight that most heroes didn’t, so she knew just exactly how empty-handed they were.

The Hulk problem was multifaceted. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere and disappeared almost as quickly. For something that large to move that fast was unsettling at the least, and terrifying more often. He was strong, fast, durable, and worst of all, mysterious. She wouldn’t be the first one to draw the disturbing comparison between the Hulk and All Might himself.

All Might. A name that would live on forever, at least as far as Ochako thought. It had been over ten years since he had heroically given his life to defeat that villain at Kamino ward. His sacrifice had taken the lives of the head villain along with Shigaraki, which had utterly shattered the League of Villains. His final act had been to give Japan an era of peace. 

It was appropriate. Ochako liked to think he died proudly. She had only known the man for a semester at UA, but she hoped that the idea that he would put an end to such heinous villains would be a worthy capstone to his spectacular life. 

Of course, there were still villains. There would always be villains, but none had ever come close to the power they’d seen since that fateful night. 

Not until the Hulk, that was. 

Ochako had felt a shift in the winds. Even if others couldn’t feel it, she couldn’t shake it. To her, it seemed that a change was coming and the Hulk was the vanguard. 

And what a terrifying vanguard he was. Ochako had faced plenty of villains in her time, but if half of the stories about the Hulk were true, she’d never seen anything like him in her career as a pro. 

He apparently stood nearly ten feet tall and was covered in massive, bulging muscles. He was green all over, from his skin, taut against his muscles and covered in bulging veins, to his hair, which laid heavy on his head in a mop, to his eyes, which glowed with a sickening light. He smashed through concrete and steel like they were paper and wood, he could jump entire blocks with ease, and nothing they hit him with seemed to even phase him. The Hulk seemed like a real monster, and the photos and videos she had seen had only reinforced that thought. Whatever he was, he was certainly terrifying.

She had seen a lot of things in her just over eight years of being a pro, including a very large number of villains. She had learned many hard truths; such as the fact that no matter how many heroes there are, and no matter how diligent they are, villains who want to hurt people will get their wish. It’s the job of heroes to limit how much damage that is, but there is no way to protect everyone all the time. 

Which made the Hulk case even more fascinating. In the past two months, despite numerous incidents and sightings of the Hulk, not a single person had died. There were some people with minor injuries, but the Hulk looked like he could kill someone with a flick of his massive fingers. The fact that he hadn’t killed anyone was a point of pride for Ochako and all the other heroes. Eventually the luck would run out, she had no doubt, but for now, the greatest villain to threaten Japan in a decade had a body count of zero. 

Except, Ochako knew there was more going on than the public was told. Ochako was proud of her fellow heroes, but there was no way that they could have stopped the Hulk if he wanted to hurt people. The low-ranking heroes that were able to chase the Hulk off wouldn’t have a hope if he tried to fight them. Nobody outside of the top ten, and probably still only the top five, even stood a chance against him. Ochako didn’t know why he ran, but he always did; he made his way into the wilderness outside of Tokyo faster than anybody could chase him, and then he vanished. 

That’s another reason they called Ochako in. Ever since she had fully mastered her quirk, there was nobody faster. Not even Iida could keep up with her anymore. As it turned out, having control over one of the fundamental forces of reality was a pretty powerful quirk. The chances of her running into him were slim, but if she did, she would do her best to stop him.

Ochako shook her head, dispelling the thoughts as she continued her patrol. She was walking down on the street level—as opposed to jumping between rooftops like normal—to help calm the populace down. Visibility was very important when it came to a hero’s job; citizens had to see heroes, had to see them doing their job, for them to feel safe. You could tell someone about all the crimes you stopped, but seeing a hero walking down the street made them feel more secure than any amount of statistics. That was one of the things she had learned from All Might; being a hero meant being a symbol, in one way or another.

She waved at a couple who were pointing and gasping at her. Tokyo wasn’t her normal beat, as she had been called in special along with many other heroes, so she was getting more of that kind of attention than normal. It was safe to say that Uravity was a household name at this point, but there was something special about seeing a top ten hero in person. She understood that.

It was hard to believe that she was where she was now. A decade prior she was skipping meals to be able to make ends meet and keep attending UA, but now-

A piercing scream cut through the night and Ochako’s feet began to move before she had even finished processing the sound. 

She turned a corner and sprinted down the sidewalk toward where she had heard the scream. Three men in dark clothing burst out of an alleyway, shrieking at the top of their lungs and running like their lives depended on it. As Ochako reached the entrance of the alley, she saw why. 

It’s like he was waiting for her. 

Standing as tall as Fat Gum and nearly as wide,but built well enough to make All Might in his prime look impotent, was the Hulk. The massive green beast was wearing nothing but a pair of ripped and straining purple pants, and he was standing almost motionless in the alleyway, his bulging arms less than a yard away from either wall.

And he was looking right at her. 

For the first time in years, Ochako froze. Those piercing green eyes were staring into her soul with that dim, radioactive glow that highlighted them faintly against his otherwise shadowed face. They were filled with a fury that rooted her in place as she felt the power emanating off of him, the likes of which she hadn’t felt since she met All Might. Her brain was screaming at her to run, as her fight or flight instincts had made their choice, but Ochako had learned long ago to ignore those. 

She stepped toward the behemoth as he glared at her, illuminated by the glow of a dim streetlamp in the dark night. She estimated her head only came up to somewhere near the top of his abs, but she still moved closer. This was her target, and she had to be ready for a fight.

Before she could do anything, a low moan drew her attention away. She glanced down and saw a woman slumped against the wall. She held her side, and blood flowed slowly from between her fingers. A knife lay on the ground between her and Ochako, its blade dark with her blood.

Ochako’s eyes snapped back up to the Hulk, who was still staring at her.

She was tasked with capturing the Hulk, but this woman needed help. There was no choice to be made. It was time to test her theory. 

“Unless you want a fight, get out of here,” she said firmly, doing her best to hide the fear in her voice. 

The Hulk’s head moved a tiny amount as he appeared to hear her, but he didn’t move.

She moved closer. “At least get out of the way, I need to get that woman to a hospital,  _ now _ !”

The Hulk didn’t move at first, but eventually he let out a small snort and began to turn. The motion of his arm was enough to make her flinch a little, but he didn’t react. He walked away out of the alley, each of his steps causing the ground to shake like a small earthquake was underfoot. 

Ochako wasted no more time and quickly moved to give the woman first aid. She pulled out some medical supplies from a pouch on her waist and got to work, but she knew better than to turn her back on an enemy, and she glanced back over at the Hulk.

The man glanced back as he reached the end of the alleyway and locked eyes with Ochako once again. Fear coursed through her body, but she met his gaze firmly and didn’t stop working on patching up the woman. The Hulk turned away and crouched down before leaping into the air, kicking up a huge rush of wind as he vanished into the evening.

Part of Ochako felt bad for letting him get away, but there was no way she could let a woman die for the chance of catching him. That wasn’t how she worked.

“Thank… you…” the woman mumbled weakly.

“Good, that’s it, stay with me,” Ochako returned quickly. 

She smiled weakly and nodded. “He… saved me…” 

“The Hulk?” Ochako asked in concern.

She nodded again. “Those men… stabbed me. Hulk… chased them off.”

Ochako glanced at the woman’s face as she finished patching her up. “Alright, I need to get you to a hospital. Stay awake for me, okay?” 

With a touch from her fingers to both of them, Ochako let the woman float a little into the air before she grabbed her securely and began to jump her toward the closest hospital. As she soared through the air, she looked behind her, studying the nighttime horizon for any sign of the Hulk. 

This was going to be an interesting assignment. 

* * *

The next day, Ochako was listening to the radio as she drove down a quiet backroad. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to this, but it was one of the major reasons she had been called in for the Hulk assignment. On top of her theoretically being a good matchup for him, which was an idea she was doubting more and more ever since the previous night, she was also assigned to work as a liaison with a government-funded laboratory about a half-hour drive into the Japanese countryside. 

Their one piece of information to go on was the faint traces of gamma radiation that the Hulk left behind. She was on her way to meet with a man who she was told was the ‘preeminent expert on gamma radiation’ in the entire country, maybe the world.

“The Hulk made another appearance on the northern edge of the Tokyo Metropolis last night,” the radio hummed. “Fortunately, there were no fatalities reported, thanks to the quick intervention of Uravity, who-”

Ochako flipped the radio off and continued to drive in silence. She rapped her gloved fingers on the wheel as her mind returned to the Hulk, like it had been almost constantly since her encounter.

The news was wrong, Ochako didn’t do anything. The Hulk could have killed that woman easily if he had wanted to, which had confirmed what she had secretly suspected. The Hulk didn’t want to kill people, at least not currently. 

She still understood the unease of the Hero Commission and the country at large. The Hulk was essentially a nuclear bomb walking around Tokyo that they were trusting not to explode. For now, he seemed content with that, but what if one day, he wasn’t? If only they could talk to him. He seemed to understand speech, but it wasn’t clear if he could speak himself. Maybe they could find out what he wanted.

But to do that, they had to find him first. That was what they hoped to do here.

She saw the sign marked with a logo she didn’t recognize off the top of her head with the words ‘Radiation Research Laboratory’ marked underneath. She took the indicated turn and as the trees parted, a massive, white, metal facility came into view. It had several receiver dishes on the roof, and cooling towers of various heights, some reaching maybe a dozen stories high. She couldn’t tell how far the lab extended inland, nor how deep underground, but she had the impression that this was an absolutely massive operation.

Ochako pulled into a spot and parked her car before stepping out into the spring sun and taking off her gloves. As she straightened her skirt, she looked back at her car and frowned, then reached down and touched the bumper with her hand, moving the car a little to the right, then releasing her quirk. She double-checked that she had her guest pass and then slung her purse over her shoulder as she began to walk toward the entrance. The click of her heels on the pavement echoed across the otherwise silent parking lot as she prepared for whatever was coming ahead.

She reached the security gate, where a guard stood. The woman gave her an excited smile as she approached. “Miss Uravity! We were told you would be coming.” 

Ochako smiled back and presented her pass, which the guard took and scanned. 

“Everything looks to be in order,” she continued. “Please follow the main path to the entrance, then take the first left once you’re inside. You’ll arrive at the Gamma Lab with no issues.” 

“Thank you,” Ochako said politely as she took her pass back and waited for the heavy metal gate to hiss open. 

She stepped past the open gate into the courtyard in front of the complex and admired the pristine gardening as she walked up the concrete walkway. The main doors were heavy and industrial looking, with no windows to speak of, but they slid open as she approached, clearly opened by someone else, somewhere else. 

Ochako looked around as she entered the facility, appreciating the well-lit atrium and the network of hallways and stairs leading up and all over. Remembering the instructions, she turned quickly left and headed toward the hallway that was labeled ‘Gamma Lab’. 

Her clicking footsteps echoed through the austere and sterile hallways, past locked, unlabeled doors and branching hallways illuminated by bright, LED fixtures until she arrived at her destination. The double glass doors slid open to reveal a well-adorned office filled with bookshelves, a few tables and chairs, and a large front desk. There was a young, silver-haired woman puttering around one of the shelves who looked over as the doors opened and smiled widely.

  
“Ah, Miss Uravity! You’re right on time.” She hurried over and bowed quickly. She looked to be just around five feet tall—a good six inches shorter than Ochako—but she had an exuberance about her that made her seem bigger, a little like Mina or Tooru. She sat down at the desk and quickly typed something out on the keyboard. 

“Thank you for having me,” Ochako returned. “I know this is unusual.”

The woman’s smile brightened even further. “It’s our pleasure. Your appointment is scheduled with Dr. Midoriya. His door is the last one down that hallway; his name is on the door, you can’t miss it.” 

Ochako nodded politely as she turned and stepped down a small hallway, passing by doors labeled with names of presumably other doctors and scientists, until she reached the door at the end labeled ‘Midoriya’. 

She knocked briskly, and a surprisingly young and chipper voice called back to her. “Come in!” 

Ochako slid the door open and saw a well-organized but very full office. The walls were lined with bookshelves, which in turn were filled with books, papers, certificates, awards, trophies, and more. A pair of comfortable chairs sat in front of the heavy, dark wood desk that was covered with more papers and books, along with a computer and a name plaque which read ‘Dr. Izuku Midoriya.’

The man sitting behind the desk was, again, surprisingly young. A mop of messy green hair lay on his head, and a pair of bright, green eyes sat underneath. His face had an assortment of freckles, a friendly smile, and a certain roundness that paired with his defined jawline to make him appear cute and handsome at the same time.

However, after a moment, those big eyes began to darken as his smile changed to a stern glower. “Right. I had almost forgotten you were coming.” 

Ochako steeled herself as she shut the door behind her. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. The Hero Commission is grateful for this opportunity.” 

The man’s face didn’t shift. “Yes, yes. This meeting is only happening because our board deemed it necessary.”

“I was told I would be meeting with the top gamma scientist in the country, is that you?” Ochako wasn’t sure why she felt so off-balance, but something about the man’s intense glare was unnerving her.

“Yes.”

“Oh, great. I just wasn’t expecting someone so young.” Ochako immediately kicked herself mentally. That was stupid and rude, what was she thinking?

The man’s scowl deepened. “I have five PhDs and am working on my sixth. They are on display on the shelf behind me. Now, if you are finished doubting me, please get on with it. I am a very busy man.” 

Ochako couldn’t help but notice that Midoriya had very explicitly  _ not _ offered her a chair and seemed content speaking with her standing just inside the doorway. Even so, she bowed in apology. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. I was surprised that someone so young could be so accomplished, I was not doubting your accomplishments.” 

He didn’t answer and simply continued to glare at her. 

She stood back up tall, meeting his intense gaze with calm eye contact as she collected herself. “We wish to ask your assistance with the Hulk. We have discovered that he emits small amounts of gamma radiation and we thought there would be no better place to go than to you, doctor.”

“I see.” He stayed silent for a few moments. “What are your intentions with the Hulk?”

Ochako blinked. “Um. The Hulk is a dangerous criminal who is at large. Surely you have read the news?”

The man continued his dark glare. “I have. The Hulk has neither killed nor seriously injured anyone. The only injuries were heroes who tried too hard to stop him and wound up getting minor injuries. Minimal property damage, far beneath what many heroes produce in a single week of their ‘heroics’. Tell me, why is he so dangerous that you had to come to me and interrupt my work?”

Ochako took a deep breath. After the previous night, she didn’t exactly disagree with him, but she wasn’t here to represent herself. “Regardless of injuries and casualties, he is using his quirk without a license and thus poses a threat to our society. The law takes unlawful quirk use seriously, especially with a quirk as powerful as his. I’m not here to deliberate the law, it is my job to enforce it.” 

The man appraised her for a few moments, studying her face and seemingly deliberating something internally. “Very well. I can help you. But, before I do, I need a promise from you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What do you have in mind?” 

“You must promise me that if you capture him, the Hulk will not be used as a weapon. I refuse to participate in something that reprehensible.” He spoke with a grim severity Ochako couldn’t help but appreciate. 

Even so, it seemed like an odd request. “Certainly, doctor. You have my word, but I must say that our intentions are always rehabilitation; we would never try to turn a person into a weapon.” 

“Mmm.” That was his only response. “I’ll begin work on developing something for you. You may leave.” 

“Thank you, doctor,” she said politely as she bowed again and quickly turned around and left the office, closing the door behind her.

Ochako shivered a little as she hurried back down the hallway. The man had seemed very jovial at first, but his mood had soured as fast as Bakugou’s on one of his bad days. Regardless, she was glad that was over so she could enjoy the rest of her day before going on patrol again that evening. 

Apparently, she wore her feelings on her face a little too much, as the woman at the front desk gave her a sympathetic look as she walked past. 

“Ah, sorry, perhaps I should have mentioned something,” she said apologetically.

Ochako smiled professionally. “Please, don’t worry yourself. I just wasn’t expecting that level of intensity.”

She nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything about my boss, but you gotta believe me when I say he’s a really nice guy!” 

Ochako couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. 

“Really!” she pleaded. “He’s always super kind and considerate to everyone in the office. He buys lunch for us at least once a month, and he even helps pay for my rent because I’m living on my own for the first time. I’m an intern and everything.” She laughed awkwardly.

Ochako’s eyebrow raised higher.

“Yeah, yeah,” the intern continued blathering, “he’s a great guy, and the smartest man I’ve ever met. He goes out of his way to help people and I’ve almost never heard him say anything bad about anyone but uh, well…”

She trailed off a bit, then looked back up at Ochako. “Well, it’s just that he, erm, uh... Please keep this to yourself, but he uh, really dislikes heroes.” 

Ochako’s eyebrow lowered as she frowned to herself. That wasn’t something she ran into very often. “I see. Still, thank you for your time. The Hero Commission is very grateful.” 

The woman nodded enthusiastically as Ochako left the office and returned the way she came.

She didn’t know exactly what to think. The description from the intern matched very well with her immediate first impression of the man, but all the kindness in his big, green eyes had drained away the moment he realized who she was. 

Truth be told, Ochako wasn’t very used to people disliking her. There was some workplace jealousy she had to deal with from other heroes, but she had only run into civilians who actively disliked heroes as a whole a few times, like Mandalay’s cousin Kouta. She never had the opportunity to talk with them or figure out why they had so much disdain for a profession that, while far from perfect, at its core was trying to serve the public good. How can you hate people who are trying to help?

But Ochako knew that there were many perspectives that she couldn’t or didn’t understand, though that didn’t make them inherently wrong. People were the sum of their life experiences, and something had clearly happened in Midoriya’s past to make him so bitter.

Maybe it was just the way she was, but she couldn’t help but be curious. From the very beginning, her greatest joy was seeing people smile, and when people were sad, angry, dejected, or downtrodden, she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to help.

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but maybe she could get through that shell. They were going to be working together for the time being, after all. He was helping her track down the Hulk, maybe she could help him with some things.

Or maybe he’d just continue to be the rude, standoffish man that he appeared.

Who knew what the future held?

* * *

Izuku stumbled into his bathroom later that night as his head pounded like something was trying to burst out of his skull. 

Which was appropriate, because something was, in a sense.

“No, I let you out yesterday,” he hissed into the mirror. He stared into his own eyes, which were glowing erratically. 

Calm. He needed to be calm. He had made progress on that calculation that had been stumping him for a few days, he needed to focus on that. That, and not that hero who came by and interrupted him to try and track down the Hulk.

Why did he agree to help? He was actively participating in something that could lead to his exposure.

“There was no good reason to decline,” he said to the mirror. “Nothing I could say without being incredibly suspicious. I had no choice.”

“Or maybe it’s just because I thought Uravity was beautiful,” he added. “Is that all it takes? The number three hero walks in, gives me a smile, and I risk myself like this?”

“No, no. I haven’t risked anything. I’ll design it, I’ll know how to avoid it.”

“I’ll know; will  _ he _ know?”

“Besides, I saw the look on her face. She doesn’t think the Hulk is a monster either.”

“No, she knows that the Hulk is a monster, just like I do. We saw the fear in her eyes.”

“It was understandable. Think of it from her perspective. The Hulk is a force of nature and she was staring him down.” 

“Still, she let him go. Told him to leave. I know she was brought in to capture him, but she focused on the wounded person.”

“It was stupid to let him out. I know that Tokyo is crawling with heroes, even more than normal.” 

“Yes, but I couldn’t stand by and watch that lady get attacked. There wasn’t even a decision to be made, was there?” 

“No, but it was still dangerous.”

Izuku stumbled back from the mirror, shaking his head and reaching for the painkillers. He swallowed two and washed them down before heading back to his bedroom and sitting down at the foot of his bed. 

He looked up into the blank television, at its reflective screen.

Instead of himself, he saw the monster staring back at him. 

“ **You’re thinking she’s a good one** ,” it grunted.

Izuku shook his head again and looked back at the screen, where he saw only his own, tired face. He fell backward onto his bed and stared up at nothing.

“No,” he said firmly to the ceiling. “There are no good ones. We learned that a long time ago.” 


End file.
